I went to another yoga class at my workplace today and it was AWESOME!

I really love the instructor, only the 2nd male I’ve ever had, and the class included a lot of my favorite poses (pigeon, Warrior Series, etc.) and a few that I had never tried…like Eagle.

When I left, my legs were feeling it and I felt totally at peace and calm. There is nothing quite like how a good yoga class can make you feel.

This was my third yoga class this week and I am feeling so good about everything, including my training. I can almost attribute the “frustrating” weeks of my training program to those when I did not include yoga!

Tomorrow, I get to visit my friend Carrie at Eternal Health Yoga and I can’t wait. That will make 4 yoga classes this week, woo hoo!

Do you practice yoga regularly? Do you find that it enhances your fitness program (not to mention overall well-being)?

So after reading through your comments and giving it some serious thought, I know that I definitely still want a whole day’s eats as part of my blog. Just not every single day.

My food tends to get repetitive, especially when I make a recipe that only I will eat and I repeat a meal several times over the course of a week!

So I plan to do a full day of eats, drinks and everything one time a week…on Mondays!

The rest of the days of the week will be focused on other things like recipes, products, weight loss challenges, thoughts, etc. This way I can keep posting on the blog daily but not get overwhelmed or think it’s too boring.

So enjoy, this is the last full day for a few :)

Raisin chocolate chip oatmeal.

Somehow I managed to leave my morning snack at home, so I had to break into part of my lunch early, which worked fine.

That V-water is my favorite though, it tastes just like Tang and I mean that in a good way ;-)

When I got home from the gym, I was hungry enough that I needed something to hold me over while I cooked dinner, so I snacked on some more nuts.

Speaking of nuts, check out my guest post over at Trading Up Downtown, where I learned about NuVal scores and “traded up” a few of my products (including these nuts, which score a 49, compared to a 9 for cashews).

Next up, a girl’s night potluck recap where I made a dish I have never tried before!

I recently posted on Twitter asking other running bloggers how often they run. Some said 5-6 days a week, some 3 or 4, with alternating days. Everyone is different!

I had started to think that perhaps I needed to cut down to 3-4 and try not to run two consecutive days anymore because I’m worried about injuries and getting burned out like I did last time I trained for a mini marathon.

So since I ran two miles yesterday, technically I should have just laid low today. But since I like to do long runs on Saturdays (not that I have in a while) I want a day off before that.

So I headed to the gym and went right over to the Cardio Cinema. They were showing “Gone in 60 Seconds” this time. Definitely not a favorite, but still fun to watch while running.

Holy crap, that movie is 10 years old. What?!

Oh yeah, I ran 3 miles in 32:57!

When I first started, my hip felt tight and my knee hurt a bit but after the first mile, I was good to go. I’m so glad I ran today and didn’t talk myself out of it. Now I can rest tomorrow and get ready for Saturday :)

I also took a yoga class today which ended up being taught by the same instructor that I got frustrated with once before. But luckily, I changed my attitude, realized the class was about my practice, and it ended up being okay. Not great, but okay!

Even though I am on a “training plan” for a half marathon, I know it is not realistic (or fun) for me to run 5 days a week and cross-train for one, rest for one. Boooorrrrinngggg. Plus, hello burnout!

So I’ve just been taking it week by week, day by day. If I feel like running, I’ll run, or if I can’t run I’ll do something else. Not to mention our lovely winter weather has intervened many times.

But this week, I have been enjoying a free 7-day guest pass to a gym, so the possibilities have been many. However, on Wednesday, I couldn’t make it to this gym (it’s girl’s night potluck night) so I had to get it in at work.

I decided to run 2 easy miles on the treadmill, then do some weight training.

Before I left work, I made a plan:

I’m guilty of going to the gym and doing exercise that I like and end up neglecting certain areas of the body, like my back and legs. So I wrote out all the areas first and then filled in an exercise for each one.

I also tried to choose exercises that I hadn’t done recently, since I also tend to get in ruts. I swear I’ve been doing chest presses for ages now, ha ha. It’s good to change things up!

The best part is, when I got done, I didn’t really feel like I had done that much but I was definitely a little sore today. I did every exercise on the list, 2 sets of each and 10 reps each, except for abs which were 25 each set. I think if I hadn’t written all that down, I definitely would not have done as much.

The 2 mile run was great too, I ended up doing intervals varying my speed between 5.0-6.0 mph and then sprinting at the end. I’m definitely feeling confident about my 5K on March 6th:)

Today, I decided to try out more of the classes at Urban Active. I’m really impressed by this gym!

Before I headed out the door, I had to document how incredibly pink I was today. I did not plan this, I swear ;-)

First, I went back to my favorite Cardio Cinema (today’s selection: the new Star Trek) and walked for 20 minutes, gradually increasing the incline up to 15.0 and then back down. That got the heart rate up and broke a sweat!

Then, I headed to a short 15-minute abs class. I wasn’t too impressed…I guess I am more advanced at ab work than I thought because I barely felt a burn.

Afterwards, I attended the “Urban Yoga” class which was pretty challenging and had me sweaty and fatigued, especially in the legs. Yet I felt refreshed and free at the same time. I love yoga.

I still have a few days left on my free pass then I need to decide if I’m going to join. I really want to, I just have to take a look at our budget and see when exactly it can happen.

I’ve participated in this Mini Marathon the past two years but last year I did not train very well, so I decided to enjoy the course and walk. It was still a challenging race though!

Now that I have decided to run again this year, I’m a little nervous but at the same time I’ve made peace with it and know that no matter how I finish, I will finish and it will be a great time. And after my 5-mile run yesterday, I know that I can definitely get there.

I want to give a shout out to my girl Mari who will be running her first 5K very soon. I still remember my first one and it was such an awesome experience. Good luck girl!

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Since May 2008, I have been blogging about healthy eating and weight loss/maintenance. I lost 70 lbs in 2007 and now I'm working on maintaining that loss through healthy eating, exercise and a peaceful vegan lifestyle. Any questions? Email me at seesaraheat@gmail.com

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